Leading and Following in a Hierarchical Organization
Posted by Brad EgelandI’m a fan of the show Criminal Minds. Very intense, very intriguing, slightly disturbing. Recently, due to a situation with a very personal case, Thomas Gibson’s character Hotchner, had to relinquish leadership of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) to another character, Morgan. In preparation for this, Hotch started to give Morgan some paperwork-type tasks that Morgan felt was menial. Morgan thought he was being punished when, in fact – as he would later find out – he was just being prepped for his new role. Those paperwork items were things Hotch always had to do, but no one else knew about because he ‘just did them.’
Just Say NO to Busy Work
Leadership of any kind comes with costs. What all organizations must do is understand how much of that extra ‘paperwork’ is really necessary for those that they are asking to lead. Busy work should never – repeat NEVER – be required of a project manager, or any leader for that matter. In fact, many organizations ask that their successful project managers operate with little to no direction and give them quite a bit of autonomy in their jobs. If there’s a PMO in place, then a once per week meeting with all the PMs as a group to go through any company news and specific project-related issues should be sufficient.
Everyone Benefits from Standardized Reporting
The idea is that your PMO processes and your project management policies already in place will mean that you have a somewhat standardized status reporting process already. And those standard reports should be sufficient information for the PMO Director to see without requiring tedious other reporting information or mechanisms. I believe that a PMO Director should be always trying to clear paths to success for his or her project managers.
Never should they be requiring project managers to create extra reports in different formats to satisfy their own reporting needs. Figure out a standard report on project status that fits all needs and ask that PMs use that as a general template as they move forward in their projects…then just have the PMs cc the status report to the PMO Director every week as they deliver them to the team and the customer.
I’ve been a part of organizations and PMOs that seemed to want to load down employees with meaningless paperwork and reports. Micro-management has no place in organizations I work for…it drives me crazy. That’s probably why – self-admittedly – I’m sometimes not the best person to have as an employee. I’m an independent thinker and hate doing things that get in the way of doing what is right for the project…meaning what is best going to serve the project, my organization and my customer. Am I stubborn…yes. But I also feel that stubbornness and independent thinking are two very critical characteristics organizations should be looking for in their project managers.
Summary
With all this rambling, what exactly am I trying to say? Basically that project managers who are part of an organization – either in a formal PMO or distributed throughout the company – are always asked to lead and often asked to follow (such as with a PMO Director). We’re responsible for a lot – sometimes it seems like the world – as project managers as we try to satisfy the customer, our team, and our company leadership.
The key for the PM is to be a good leader and a wise and efficient follower. Do what is expected, but protect your team, your project and your customer. Therefore, if you’re seeing processes that do not make sense…question them. But when you do question them, also come with a proposed solution. Think proactively. Processes within organizations seem to cycle through significant changes every 2-3 years. Be a change agent for efficient processes within your company…everyone will benefit.
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